The Prom Dress Room

The Prom Dress Room is a collection of illustration and verse inspired by thrift shop prom dresses and that tell their stories, who wore them and what became of her life.

In Lawrence, Kansas, there is a unique thrift shop called The Social Service League, which sells clothing, books, and household items and serves as a dynamic community hub. Upstairs, in its old stone building, the League has a room full of donated formal dresses which are given to young women to wear to their prom.

One winter Sandy volunteered to clean and organize the dresses. As she sorted through their colorful variety, they began to tell their stories: Who wore this dress? What was her life like? Who would she become? Each week she took one dress home, made her amateur ink drawing, colored it in with fat pencils, and wrote the story of the dress and the young woman who wore it to prom. The result is this collection of nine illustrations and poems, The Prom Dress Room. Profits from the sale of The Prom Dress Room go to the Social Service League of Lawrence, Kansas.